Monday, March 29, 2010

The experienced midfielder has made it clear that Brazil are the team to beat

Brazil were paired with Ivory Coast, Portugal and North Korea for the group phase of this summer's World Cup and experienced midfielder Gilberto Silva has said that it's justified to label Brazil's group "the Group of Death".

"If you compare it to England's or Spain's groups, for example, I think it’s justified to call ours “the Group of Death”, but this team’s already lived through a lot of adversity and is ready to face this situation," said Gilberto Silva to fifa.com.

"I know a lot of the Portuguese players and particularly the Ivorians, who I played alongside at Arsenal. In fact, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue have been giving me loads of stick, joking around and saying that Ivory Coast are going to beat Brazil.

"But of course they respect us, that’s just what it’s like at the World Cup. Everybody wants to beat Brazil."